Star Wars Is In Serious Trouble. Who's Going to Save it This Time?

In October of 2012, Disney announced it was buying Lucasfilm for $4.05 billion and would begin to produce a series of new Star Wars movies beginning with Episode VII. Fans, although skeptical of Disney's involvement, were delighted at the idea of seemingly endless movies in the most beloved sci-fi universe of all time. But neither fan—nor Lucasfilm, nor Disney—realized that Star Wars would face the challenges of a new entertainment era.

It had been seven years since the release of the uneven George Lucas prequels. But even in less than a decade, Star Wars fandom had changed. Those prequels had indoctrinated an entirely new generation of fans, while rejuvenating the ones who had loved it for decades. The industry had changed, too, and along with it, the way that news outlets and fans follow the production of movies closer than ever. Every tiny detail, every set photo, every toy description is immediately blasted on the web for fans to scrutinize.

For the next two years, with J.J. Abrams at the helm, the production of Star Wars: The Force Awakens carried along under the stifling watchful eye of the industry—and more importantly, diehard fans. Though haunted by fans searching for spoilers and details, Disney and Lucasfilm made it through their first movie with little drama and favorable reviews. But less than six months after the release of The Force Awakens, trouble began to brew at Lucasfilm.

In Summer 2016, reports began to circulate that Disney was unhappy with the early cut of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and had ordered expensive reshoots to save the film. Director Gareth Edwards was sidelined for screenwriter Tony Gilroy to overhaul Rogue One. And weeks before the release date, they pulled the movie together to put the serviceable Rogue One into theaters.

There are some in the industry who see an emerging pattern suggesting that Kennedy's appetite for creative license and risk-taking will have to be curbed … For all the talk of hiring filmmakers with their own vision, observers say Kennedy and Disney may be learning that the franchise is defined by a particular set of parameters. "All of the films have been 'troubled,'" says a top executive at a rival studio. "J.J. [Abrams] was powerful enough to push back on an unrealistic start date [for the first movie] but that was a tug of war. The last one was reshot by Tony [Gilroy] for months and now this? This is a systemic problem."

Now, a few months later, there has been another major shakeup during a Star Wars production: Colin Trevorrow has been fired as the director of Star Wars: Episode IX. "Lucasfilm and Colin Trevorrow have mutually chosen to part ways on Star Wars: Episode IX," read a Lucasfilm statement. "Colin has been a wonderful collaborator throughout the development process, but we have all come to the conclusion that our visions for the project differ. We wish Colin the best and will be sharing more information about the film soon."

Sources say that the working relationship between Trevorrow and Lucasfilm head Kathleen Kennedy became unmanageable. Kennedy, who had already been through one director firing/replacement on the Han Solo spinoff movie, was not eager for a sequel and tried to avoid this decision.

This marks the fourth time Lucasfilm has replaced a director on a Star Wars project, calling into question their initial decision making and Kennedy's ability to allow filmmakers to breathe.

Clearly, each of these shakeups has been the result of friction between Kennedy and the directors. And while it's good to see Disney strictly enforcing high standards of quality, it doesn't bode well for directors who want to, you know, be creative.

While this is all deeply concerning, we should keep in mind two things. One, Disney/Lucasfilm has yet to produce a major flop. Though The Force Awakens lacked in originality, J.J. Abrams still produced a worthy successor for the original trilogy and far surpassed the expectations set by the prequels. Even with all the drama and questionable tactics, Lucasfilm has still been able to pull it together when it counts: On release day. It might not be the most graceful race, but these two Star Wars saga films have made it to the finish line. Secondly, the upcoming Star Wars: The Last Jedi has gone through production with very little drama under director Rian Johnson.

The question now is: Who will pull through to save yet another Star Wars movie? For Rogue One, it was last-minute editing and the rewrites from Tony Gilroy. For the Young Han Solo movie, it's Ron Howard. According to early reports, rither Rian Johnson or J.J. Abrams could be strong contenders.

Regardless, it's a stressful time for Star Wars and Lucasfilm, and though we don't have any reason to doubt them yet, it's troubling that they do so with a more rag-tag operation than the Rebel Alliance.

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